#243 | Dr. Green Mom Answers Your Questions on Vitamin D, Circumcision, MTHFR Gene, C-Sections Babies' Needs, Fevers, Probiotics & More

Join us for our long-awaited episode with Ashley Mayer, affectionately known as Dr. Green Mom, a highly respected family and pediatric doctor specializing in individualized and holistic medicine. In this insightful conversation, Dr. Mayer not only answers your burning pediatric healthcare questions but also provides a unique blend of personal insights and professional opinions on some of the most commonly debated topics in pediatrics.

Dr. Ashley Mayer addresses crucial concerns such as developing a protocol for fevers in babies under six months of age and discovering the best strategies for managing a fever in young infants. Dive into the realm of infant nutrition as we discuss the use of probiotics for babies and under what circumstances they are recommended. Get her take on infant bowel movements as she shares her perspective on whether it's normal for a breastfed baby to poop only once a week.

We also delve into essential topics like the necessity of vitamin D drops for babies, the contentious issue of circumcision, and the supplement needs for children with the MTHFR variation. Find out whether, and when, she thinks infants require iron and vitamin D supplementation.

Don't miss this opportunity to learn from the expertise of "Dr. Green Mom" and gain a deeper understanding of the nuanced world of family and pediatric medicine. This episode could make some tough decisions easier for you and transform the way you approach your child's health.

Dr. Green Mom

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Transcript

Research is showing that one, just one round of antibiotics, we can wipe out the microbiota for up to six months.

Okay, I want to keep moving because we have a lot of questions. Do babies really need vitamin D drops? What does a child who has the MTHFR variants take in terms of supplements? What do they need in childhood and in teenage years? If anything? What is your opinion on circumcision? A exclusively breastfed baby who's had nothing but breast milk, but was born by C section should have a probiotic.

People ask me all the time, well, what would you do? Yeah, well, what I would do might be a little bit different than what you would do as a new parent, because I've been a seasoned physician. So at any point that and you don't have that parents instinct, and that's the thing, like their instinct is an actual tool we

all need to rely on. So when they asked what you would do, that's one thing, but their instinct is potentially more valuable than anything.

Absolutely.

I'm Cynthia Overgard, owner of HypnoBirthing of Connecticut, childbirth advocate and postpartum support specialist. And I'm Trisha Ludwig, certified nurse midwife and international board certified lactation consultant. And this is the Down To Birth Podcast. Childbirth is something we're made to do. But how do we have our safest and most satisfying experience in today's medical culture? Let's dispel the myths and get down to birth.

So I'm Dr. Ashley Mayer. I'm the founder of Dr. Green mom. And now Dr. Green life. I am a family physician here in Scottsdale, Arizona. I've been practicing for about 15 years. And I, I had a I had had a family practice where I saw a bunch of mostly adults, I mean, most who migrated to me were adults, and then they would bring their kids on board, you know, after I saw them for a couple visits. And when I launched Dr. Green mom, which was a passion project of mine, after my daughter was born. As a physician, I thought I knew so much about child rearing. And then I had my daughter and I was clueless. And so I was thinking, look, if I'm a doctor, and I can't figure out how to care for my kid when it comes to anything medically related. I want to push this information out to the world once I get it done. And once I learned, and so I did. So Dr. Green mom's started. And over the years it has snowballed into what it is today. But I found myself over the last two years really seeing kids, lots of kids, lots of pregnancy, lots of infants and, and so this has just been such a beautiful experience for me. But I'm here because of you two lovely ladies who align completely with my mission and vision, which is to teach parents to raise your children more in line with the way nature intended. And it starts before birth. And so I love what the two of you are doing. And I'm so excited to be here. Just to you know, have a conversation about what that means to me and what it means to you, too.

Thank you so much, Ashley.

And I have to say our community was so excited when we announced that you were going to be on the podcast and they submitted tons of questions. We could probably have five podcast episodes with the questions that came in. But we selected a handful of them that we felt were, you know the more common questions that many new moms have. And we are very eager to hear what you have to say. I think we should start off with probably one of the most common one. We have some very more controversial ones too, that we'll get to but one of the most common ones that comes up is what to do about toddler fevers or infant fevers, especially like in a young baby. What is do you have a specific protocol that you recommend for fevers in young babies.

So the most important thing that I'll tell parents is, fevers are necessary for kids immune systems, I mean, so keep that in mind, your children are going to have fevers. And if you think about a fever, as an ability for your immune system to hop on a jungle, gym and flourish like it's it helps to calm down the parent. So if you could just close your eyes and imagine a bunch of bugs or viruses jumping around on a jungle gym, it like helps to be a little bit more calming for a parent to realize our immune systems have to play. So I tell parents, you always assess the severity of a fever or the severity of severity of any illness. So if your child is irritable, that's actually a good sign. It means that they're not. They're not at a point where they're so sick. listless. Yeah, if they're just super sluggish. That is going on into another phase of being on on watch for a fever. But I always tell parents to look for irritability, it's not a bad thing. Look for signs of dehydration. So make sure that they're changing, make sure you're changing diapers, often you're checking that they are having several wet diapers in a day. You want to pay attention to, to to the temperature only if you start to get nervous. So some kids with 104 Fever, I promise you are playing with their toys, and they're watching television and they're walking around the house, while other kiddos with 104 are laid out on the couch. And it's hard to get a response from them. So you really do want to pay attention to to the to the response and how the child is acting. So I like to tell parents don't necessarily look for the number just look at how they're feeling. So the first step for me is a tepid bath, for little ones always have a aspirator and nasal aspirator on hand, just in case the child has stuffy nose, the more that you can clear out the congestion, the better that they're going to feel at first sign of illness. For little little babies, you want to pay attention for a super back arch, neck arch, those are signs that you need to get medical attention right away. Those are the the signs that I think are most important is that baby's not getting fed, or they're not taking a feeding. This is for the little ones under age six months, they're not wetting their diapers. And if you can't get much of a response out of them, those are when you seek medical attention right away.

So it isn't about a specific number on the thermometer being absolutely not some type of thing. Once it gets over 103 They have to start Tylenol or ibuprofen.

Sure, there's nothing back to number, but I'll tell you this as an adult, if we get to a point where we're just like, Oh, I feel awful, we're going to reach for the ibuprofen and we're going to reach for the Tylenol. So I like to tell parents, you know what, don't be completely against the Advil or the Tylenol, because you would yourself probably take it when you get to a certain point of irritability. So if your child is really showing signs of discomfort, discomfort and an incredible way, don't feel like you can't dose ibuprofen or Tylenol, or oh, I'm not like the Integrative Health full mother, because I am a very conventionally trained physician. But I also believe in holistic health. And so I believe in both, I believe that there's a reason for both of them. And sometimes

it's necessary at like nighttime, so they actually get a good night's sleep. So they're not waking up in pain constantly. But but you know, if they're, if they're managing it, okay, and it's not bedtime than letting the fever ride really helps, absolutely how burn up the infection, right?

Again, that's what the irritability so if at night before bed, they're so incredibly uncomfortable. And you can tell, in my I'm just going to tell you not as a physician, but as a mom, I will dose my children with ibuprofen before bed, and it's because rest is nature's best. So you're gonna end up being able to get rid of whatever this illness is much faster if your kiddo was able to rest, rest and hydrate, it's like, there's no guilt in this. There's no guilt and child rearing. And there's no guilt in helping your child to feel better and more comfortable. And so in any situation, whatever that is, whether it's a whatever it is, but specifically this for dosing medicines, there's no guilt in this. It's because you're helping to make your child feel better, and you're using your best intuition. And I think I also want to make a point that whatever that mother or father instinct is in you or partner instinct is in you seek medical attention if you don't feel comfortable. So even if your child is running 101 And they're, you know, peeing in their diapers, and they're, you know, hydrating, and they're, they're not at a very listless, sluggish stage and you don't feel comfortable, seek medical attention, make an appointment with your doctor. So I like to say that as well. Don't feel like you have to hold off. Because there's a there's a different comfort state for all parents. People ask me all the time, well, what would you do? Yeah, well, what I would do might be a little bit different than what you would do as a new parent, because I've been a seasoned physician so that no, you don't have that parents instinct. And that's the thing, right? Instinct is an actual tool we all need to rely on. So when they ask what you would do, that's one thing, but their instinct is potentially more valuable than anything. Absolutely. And these guidelines change over the years all the time to that's what's crazy about it. They're always changing over the decades.

And I think that's what is complicating to parents is that at first sign of something, they want to hop on the computer and start to look it up and they start referencing, you know, some reputable websites and there's conflicting information and so it's conflicting with their instinctual ways of potentially rearing their children and I think that's been a huge disconnect in society. It his parents don't know what their intuition is anymore, or they don't know how to rely on it so much, because there's so many other opinions that are out there from medical experts who all differ. And I think I'm now throwing another differing point of view on the pot. And so parents are now even more confused, because now this physician, Dr. Mayer is saying something that completely conflicts with what my pediatrician told me. Well, the tagline of our whole podcast is exactly what you're speaking to. And it's here, everyone listen to yourself.

Yeah, thankfully, I think one of the problems is that there's, we're inundated with so much information, because you can Google everything, because you can be your own online doctor. And then you see what comes up is always the worst case scenario. So the fear aspect really interferes with a parent's intuition. So if you just don't go there, and don't go seeking that information, and really try to just follow what you know what you're feeling, because as soon as you start getting those, those anxious thoughts and thinking of what what if it's this, what if this? What if I missed this? Now, your intuition is really hard to hear? Absolutely. And there are, you know, especially on social media, there's other, you know, self proclaimed experts, and they are physicians, and they're talking about things, and I am incomplete in their health, their integrative, and I completely have a different opinion than them. And sometimes I like have to step back and be like, did they really put that on social? Like, what are they doing? So even us experts in the field of integrative medicine, we have differing opinions. And so I completely understand why parents are so confused. And I tell people regularly, I tell patients, I tell people on my social platforms, I am one opinion of many. And if you don't align with me, or research what I have to say, look into it, don't take my truths and my opinions for the end all be all, make sure that you go look this up and educate yourself, not just on my opinion, but on others. Other great medical references, because sometimes we won't we won't align or maybe some of what I have to say, maybe isn't maybe the best choice of action for you and your family.

And you're not treating that specific individual. And that's specific into individual's specific circumstances matter. I mean, that's the whole thing of holistic medicine is that you look at the whole being of a thirst personalized approach to medicine. It really is. All right, here's

another good question. Do you recommend probiotics for babies? And if you do, under what circumstances? And especially if they're exclusively breastfed? If so, are they necessary? And do you have a recommendation on one?

That's a lot of questions, a lot of questions one do so let's just start out with this. I believe less is best. So and I own a supplement company, and I believe less is best. So when it comes to babies, who do they need probiotics? No, it depends on situation. We just spoke about personalized medicine. And so I'll say there are specific circumstances with a newborn or baby in general, but let's just speak to newborns, newborns that I would recommend a probiotic. So if mom had a cesarean section, absolutely recommend a probiotic. It the research is definitely showing that babies who are born to Syrian mamas have a microbiota imbalance and have a harder time getting to that th one immune system switch. So I believe that probiotics and an infant is very beneficial in that case. I believe that probiotics are very beneficial in an infant's case if they're going to get vaccinated. There are several strains of probiotics that have been studied to show great efficacy with titers with specific vaccinations. I think that's important, but I also believe in helping to protect the microbiome through vaccination. The current vaccines we have on the schedule for little ones are a th two dominant vaccination, which means the whole point of the vaccination is to get you into a th two immune what does that mean? So th two is driving some of our chronic diseases in children and infants and it's eczema allergies, a tibia, asthma. So the longer that you are in this th two dominant state, the more of this is going to arise. Now teach two is so important for the immune system because it helps our bodies to see a vaccine, it helps our bodies to see that antigen and mountain immune response. But it's not good when our bodies stay in that state. And so we want to get it back to that th one teach to balance and so probiotics are definitely beneficial for that reason. parents asked me all the time I probiotics for vaccines. So I've I've probably spoken about this so many times. I think people don't realize how much the gut plays a role in the immune system. It's

really the neurological system and the immune system. The gut is a driver for both of those for sure. And so the neurological system is also a part with vaccinations as well. And so we want to make sure that we're helping to support our bodies in all way possible. So I think probiotics are beneficial then too. With with breastfed babies do I think probiotics are beneficial? It depends. Is there a symptom? So does babe have colic? Gas reflux, irritability with a feeding? Are they averse to maybe some foods that Mama is eating or have some sensitivities to those foods? I think a probiotic is very beneficial. Do I think all babies across the board should do a probiotic? No.

And do you think in a exclusively breastfed baby who's had nothing but breast milk, but was born by C section should have a robotic? Yes, when a baby comes out of the vaginal canal, they are bathed in Mama's vaginal and fecal flora. I know that sounds crazy. But it's fantastic for the baby to be bathed in that and it really sets them up for and when they're delivered as well. Just inhaling all of that when they're coming out. So I believe the importance of the probiotic, with cesarean even with breastfed babies, so I so I do believe that probiotics are beneficial for cesarean for the first four to six months of life. Do I have any longitudinal studies on this? No, it's just been what I'm doing in my practice. And I find that babies have less symptoms in the first six or eight months of life after cesarean when they have probiotics on board. And do I recommend one, I have a really great one, it's actually mine. So it's a multi strain probiotic. If you don't have to get mine, it stuck to grandmom. But make sure if you're looking for probiotic that it is a multi strain and it is robust. So and what are the most important strains for a baby has been born by C section.

Rem Gnosis and any of the lactobacillus and Bifido species are going to be very important. And it should be a diversity of them, not specifically, just one. So So here's the interesting thing about research is that there's a company who wants to bring a probiotic to market. And so they're gonna take a strain, and they're gonna study it. And then they're going to make that their probiotic and say, Well, here's the research on this brevi on this Bravais species, and this is what it does. And so here's all the benefits, and so you have to take this one strain. The problem with that is because the problem with that is that there's multiple strains that are beneficial, and I believe in a symbiotic relationship with micro organisms when it comes to probiotics, and so that one strain may be helpful, but I believe that multi strains will be more beneficial.

And what about breast milk as a prebiotic?

That's fantastic.

But but still not quite sufficient.

I believe. I believe that babies who have no symptoms, who are born vaginally do not need a probiotic and do i They don't need a probiotic either. If they're born Susteren, I just recommend them. Okay, and it probably helps them I mean, it takes some time for the gut to for the even with breast milk or the prebiotic to completely formed the gut if they're missing all that early exposure coming through the vaginal canal and starting on a probiotic gives them just that extra boost.

Absolutely. So and again, parents will say, Well, how long do I have to keep them on nurse I just a couple of months. So it's not that this is something I have to stay on forever. It's just to help repopulate that microbiome, that maybe in this th two potential dominant state,

or that they never got in the first place by being born by cesarean. It's not that they lost it. It's that they never received direct, um, Trisha and Ashley, I know what an antibiotic is. I know what a probiotic is, I don't know what a prebiotic is.

So a prebiotic actually feeds a probiotic bacteria. So it's actually the food for the probiotic. Okay. That's Yep. Yep. So the more prebiotics you have, the more probiotics you're gonna have. Because it's like the food. It's like, yeah, it's like the food for it. And then I guess there is one other case. So if, like you said, antibiotics, if an infant is on a round of antibiotics, it is so incredibly important to help repopulate that microbiome research is showing that one, just one round of antibiotics. We can wipe out the microbiota for up to six months. So stay on that probiotic after a round of antibiotics for I always recommend four to six months.

Is it ever too late to do it? If you never did it in the past? It's never too late. You can go at it, right? Yeah, absolutely. Yep.

Okay, and wait. Quick question on when, when you are taking an antibiotic, should you start on the probiotic at the same time? Should you take them separately spaced in between because obviously, the antibiotic could harm I about probiotics? So there's mixed research on that. So there's some research that shows if you take the probiotic post four hours after the round of antibiotic that some of the probiotic is utilized by the body, and you do have some colonization, the problem with most most infant antibiotics as you dose it every eight hours. So it's you know, you're really on this regimen every four hours for 24 hours trying to make sure you're getting this probiotic in your kid. And so I always recommend that you can maybe dose the probiotic once daily during an round of antibiotics. But if you'd want to wait until after the round of antibiotics is done, and it's usually a 10 day course of antibiotics, then you can start on the probiotic after that and just be religious with it.

Great, thank you. Is it normal for my breastfed baby to poop only once a week? And why would that be? No.

So pediatricians recommend that or they say that it is okay. Generally speaking, and in my it's common sense to me, that whatever comes in has to come out, right. So it doesn't matter if it's a breastfed baby or a formula fed baby, I know that breast milk, the baby is utilizing so much more of what the mother is giving. And it's being recirculated back into the system. But there still should be bowel movements, there is waste, there's metabolic waste that is produced with every feeding, and that does need to be excreted. And so doing the I Love You tell me and getting the knees up. And those are two really helpful ways for parents who have newborns to try to get their kids to go and digesting can be sluggish in the beginning. I mean, they're brand new. And so you know, their body is just trying to work itself out. And sometimes they need a little help. But no, it's not. It's not typical. It might be typical now, but it's not for a breastfed baby to go up to a week.

What do you think about chiropractic adjustments for loved ones? practic adjustments for newborn, especially if they're not pooping? I've seen babies who aren't pooping frequently enough with one two adjustments and they're pooping regularly again, like no problem. Just absolutely. Okay, I want to keep moving. Because we have a lot of questions. Yes. Do babies really need vitamin D drops?

Do you want me to answer this professionally or personally. So again, it's personalized medicine is what we wholeheartedly believe in. And I live in Arizona, neither of my children at birth ever received vitamin D drops. But I'll also say this had mountain sun for 10 to 20 minutes every day, getting direct sunlight, making sure that you know, people seem to think that if my kids aren't on the sun, they're getting vitamin D, well, if they're fully covered, they're not going to be getting any vitamin D. So skin needs to be showing to be able to get some of that vitamin D. And I, I didn't do drops with either of my children for that reason. But if you live in a cold climate, or if your baby is born in the winter, and you live in Massachusetts, it might be something that you will think about, or mama can do vitamin D drops, vitamin D does pass through the breast milk, just mama would have to do a little bit of a higher dose. Awesome.

Okay, we're gonna get a little controversial now. What is your opinion on circumcision?

personal, professional, or personal. So So I did not circumcise my son. And my husband was completely on board with circumcision. And this was one of our points of contention. So I really had to sit down and say, here's the research. Here's what I know. I want you to think about it. I want to use I want you to use your analytical mind when you're thinking about this. Do I said if I if I show you the information that shows you that UTIs are not the reason anymore to get a circumcision? What would be the next reason why you would still want to get our son circumcised. And a lot of parents will say a lot of men will say, well, because I want them to look like me. Right? My husband didn't say that. And it was awesome. And he said, Well, if it doesn't prevent UTIs, then what's the point of circumcising? And I said clear, clearly, there's no point. Professionally, I'll tell you that in my practice, I see a very large percentage of boys who actually had complications with their circumcision. So that is one more level. And one more tear I like to talk to parents about is that every, every procedure, any procedure that's done, there's always a potential risk. And so you have to look at that as well. So although you may say I want my child to look like me, or I clearly believe that it that circumcision prevents UTIs. I want you to think about the next level and the next tier and the next tier is if you do perform the circumcision. and it is complete, there are risks. So you have to think about that as well. And so adhesions are generally the number one concern or diagnosis that I'll find in boys who have come into my office. And so I spoke to my husband about that as well. And we both decided wholeheartedly, we're not going to circumcised. And my husband, we've mentioned, we've talked about it since and he's just like, I'm so thankful our son's never had a UTI. He's four and a half years old. And I, I just I'm sorry, but I believe personally, and I, you know, I'm entitled to my own opinions. But personally, I believe it's mutilation. What's the the whole point of circumcision to begin with? Was for religious reasons.

I think it was religious for Muslims and the Jewish faith. And then Kansas became the only culture that picked it up for non right.

So I'm not sure I'm not sure how we can see it as anything other than mutilation. When the child has no, say in it, they and that's what I tell parents to hit. Look, if you guys are on the fence, there's no reason you can't wait until the child can make that decision. And that's actually what I told my husband, I said, you know, if you are completely still on board with this, let's let him choose. When he gets to whatever age he decides, hey, I want I want to do this. And so he he did, he researched it, and he did research some of the other nations who are doing the same thing for girls. And he's, he just got to think and then I explained medically what the foreskin is, and there are nerve endings in there, and there copious amounts of nerve endings there. And so he, he completely changed his mind. And I believe that that is the heart of the conversation, if two parents aren't agreeing. Delaying is always best, only one decision is irreversible. Exactly. So if you do something now, if one of you wins the argument and you get circumcised, there could be potential issues later, so. So delay it until you guys can come to a decision. It's not like the first couple weeks of life baby has to get circumcised right away. So so keep that in mind that you you are able to come to a resolution just may not be exactly when you want it to be. The craziest argument you sometimes hear is that if he does it later, then it'll hurt. It's like, Oh, you think?

Yeah, I mean, they don't realize it, but it's hurting right now.

I think the most positive way to defend leaving boys intact, there are many ways to defend it. But I feel like the most positive is the right to informed consent. How can we teach our children the right to their own bodies and the right to informed consent, without the strongest one by saying despite I mean, I've had a lot of even Jewish clients who became the first in their families to leave their sons intact. It's not easy for many people when they make that choice. But it is a beautiful message of Well, we, this is your body. And that is what we want to teach our children from the time they're toddlers anyway. So it's very consistent with the values we tend to want to teach our children. Absolutely and I met but professionally speaking, I am all about informed consent, I will give you both the risks, benefits and every every way to Sunday. And it is ultimately up to parents to decide and there is no disparaging disagreement with me. If you decide to circumcise your child, I am going to be there for you and I support you completely. So professionally speaking, I am very neutral I, I allow you as a parent autonomy to decide what is best for your child. And if that means that you choose to circumcise and you don't want to wait for your child to make that decision, then I am going to support you as well. When I teach about this in my classes, I've I'm very against circumcision. Personally, it's become maybe like the happiest decision of my life that I have left my son intact. I don't know why, but it has just become deeply meaningful to me. And I'm very happy about it. But when I teach my couples because I teach so many people and they don't know how I have my values, and I do respect, these are very personal decisions. I say listen, if you do make this choice, hire carefully. Don't just hire your midwife or your obstetrician carefully and then pass off your baby to the nearest surgeon, maybe someone who's never done one before. Hire regularly. There are there's a long list of questions they can speak to that surgeon about. Because some are done carelessly. There's over 2000 adverse reactions a year God forbid you cause harm to your son. I had one couple share with me together the husband shared like his whole life. Sex is painful. That was what circumcision did for him. It's been painful his whole life. So we don't just want to say okay, well we're gonna do it and then that's it. Now you have a lot of work to do just as you do for your birth and You have to hire carefully.

Yeah, cute. I mean, keep in mind, this isn't just with circumcision. This is where any surgery or with with any procedure that's done, you want to seek out the best, you want to seek out someone who you align with, you want to seek out a physician or a surgeon who is going to perform at their best.

One more question on that if you do have an intact son, is there anything that you recommend parents do to teach them how to care for it? Is it necessary?

Yeah, nothing, right.

You don't need to do anything. There's, there's no, there's no retracted on their own, a couple of years old. And there's nothing that you have to do. I mean, that's the whole point of the, that part of the penis is protection. I mean, there's other reasons, but you don't have to do anything. There's no cleaning necessary. And that's what I think confuses parents. And that's confused. My husband too, was well, now what do we do? How do we clean it? Yeah, it's it cleans it, right? It's clean. Like we don't have to clean the inside of our vaginas. Like it's just meant to be that way.

Exactly. Absolutely. Awesome.

Thank you. Moving on. What does a child who has the MTHFR variants take in terms of supplements, what do they need in childhood and teenage years, if anything, if they're eating healthy food, and they're nourishing their bodies with whole foods, and not a lot of processed foods, they don't generally recommend anything, unless they're going through vaccination, or if they're taking medication for anxiety, or depression. So a lot of the medications, I think it's important that a kiddo is also using methylated nutrients if they have MTHFR. But the most important ones are methyl folate and methyl B 12. So the whole the whole idea behind this is that we don't they don't have the enzyme that's able to break folic acid down into folate for the homocysteine to biotene pathway. And so homocysteine which is inflammatory builds up in the body over time. And I'll see this regularly on adult labs. So I'll see a new patient in the office and they have markedly high homocysteine levels. And the first thing I'll do is run an MTHFR and ACOM T genetic test on him just to find out, you know, are you methylating appropriately. And if they're not, I'll stick them on methyl b 12, and methyl folate, but it doesn't hurt to have your kiddos on a multivitamin or mineral supplement with methyl folate and methyl B 12. I have a sublingual for kiddos that melts in your mouth to methyl b 12, and methyl folate. I think those are important. Those are the two most important there's other nutrients, your B vitamins, and there's other nutrients as well. But those are the two most and what would be the main consequences of not methylating Well, or having high homocysteine as a result of this variant.

Inflammation. So systemic inflammation, so body inflammation, and that, you know, ends up later on, you're looking at things like issues with the circulatory system, and cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc. Now, just not having fully NB 12 on board are not going to be the reasons why you would end up having any of those diagnoses, but they definitely contribute. So just because you don't take them doesn't mean you're going to end up with cardiovascular disease. And because you do take them doesn't mean that you won't end up with it. Okay.

Last one real quick. Do infants really need iron supplementation? I guess we're mostly talking about breastfed infants here since formula is fortified. But yeah, both of my children were breastfed, and neither of them were ever on an iron supplement. If there's a symptom involved, yeah, absolutely recommend it. So if they're if they are anemic, if they're showing signs of bruising, if they're having issues with feeding, if you do the there's like a finger prick that you can do or if blood was drawn, and find out that your child has issues with their ferritin or iron, then yes, I recommend a supplement. But for most intents and purpose if your child's thriving and doing fine. No, I don't recommend again, I believe less is best, although I have a liquid iron. Well, in case of those scenarios, where somebody is presenting with symptoms, really people ask me all the time about what supplements I take, and then I'm like, alright, well, let's as best I'm gonna tell you, there's very few that I actually take on a regular basis. Okay, I want to thank you guys so much for allowing me to be here. I appreciate that you guys have so much of the same mission and vision that I have with regards to raising children the way nature intended and, and allowing ultimately the parent to decide what is best. And I just I love that. That's what you have to offer. And so I appreciate you both so much for everything that you have. And your social platforms are gorgeous. Like I was consuming your information last night and I just thank you so much for all the information that you're giving to parents because without people like you, they wouldn't know where Go we feel the same way about you.

Thank you for joining us at the Down To Birth Show. You can reach us @downtobirthshow on Instagram or email us at Contact@DownToBirthShow.com. All of Cynthia’s classes and Trisha’s breastfeeding services are offered live online, serving women and couples everywhere. Please remember this information is made available to you for educational and informational purposes only. It is in no way a substitute for medical advice. For our full disclaimer visit downtobirthshow.com/disclaimer. Thanks for tuning in, and as always, hear everyone and listen to yourself.

I am truly about informed consent many physicians who are in my integrative space who are very large platforms and they have said they believe in true informed consent but when it comes down to it, they're very anti and it's like that's not okay if you believe in informed consent. You believe in the parents right to make that decision and support them either way.